Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-09-03
"HANo WORK. IN SWEDEN.
How the Use of Implements Is Taught ia
 the Scandinavian Peninsula

| the Scandinavian Peninsula.
 Slojd, or hand work, is the art of using | ordinary implements-such as a knife, a
 saw, a hammer or a paint brush MT. | Squeers seems to have had some shadowy
 notion of this system ''C-l-e-e-n, clean;
 w-i-n-d-e-r, window; now go and clean it, |"
 said that practical person Sloid teaching is
 to technical instruction what a liberal ed
 ucation is to professional training. It h
 valued, not only as the first step toward learninga trade, but also as Q training for
 the faculties. Appreciation of form, a proper value of time and method. neat
 ness of manipulation and habits of indus
 try and self reliance are some of the bless
 ings with which it Is credited Enthusi-
 asts, moreover, hope that by including
 manual work among ordinary school sub
 Jects bodily labor may in time be raised
 from the low esteem where 1t too often
 lies
 Slojd was invented by one Cno Cyg-
 neus, a Fin, who, after qualifying in sev- eral handicrafts, became a schoolmaster and was commissioned to draw up a re- port, on which the Finnish system of gov ernment schools is based. In Sweden his system was copied some fifteen years ago, and it has there spread so rapidly that in many of the common schools slO,d forms part of the regular course. Those who view hand work merely as training for the faculties cOnfine their teaching to simple work in wood. But those who value it also as subsidiary to technical in struction teach slojd in many branches and carry it beyond the use of the sim plest tools. BOokbinding. tinkering, smiths work, painting, basket making shoemaking and tailoring arc among their subjects, and they spare no efforts to make the system attractive to pupils and parents. At some schools pupils are al- lowed to keep what they have made, or to buy 1t eheaply; or, tO secure continuous attendance, they are credited with deferred pay, which they forfeit by leaving before n stipulated course has been completed
 On completion of the course the pupil is presented with a bank book representing his accumulated earnings and receives a parting counsel to increase them.
 The parents sympathy Is also angled for. At school in a laboring district it is a rule that pupils shall be taught to make and use such common implements as are most serviceable to working people -rakeS, spades, ax handles and the like. Assiduous young tinkers, tailors and shoe makers are allowed the use of school i'm plements to make the family repairs, and thus exists in Sweden the phenomenon of self repairing boy, who mends his own raiment and cObbles his own shoes.
 In Sweden, in Norway and in Fin | land the system has proved most success ful There seems no reason why 1t should not be introduced and become equally | successful here. The taste among non | labOring classes for using implements is | universal Too often, however, the | hands that guide the implements are | rather zealOus than skillful But if | schools taught slOid, these manual short | comings would be remedied The tool | chest, now Pandora's box of evil, bring | ing terror to paternAl bosoms and impre- | cations on the donor, would become a blessing. Instead of amputating chair | legs or studding the furniture with tin | tacks, its skilled pOSsessOr would do the Il family's odd jobs The penknife found in Il the pocket of every schoolboy but Macan- lays would whittle and carve, under due supervision, to the advantage of the ft ungs and its owners fingers. Adults would cease to slice their faces in vain at tempts tO shave themselves; and to the adept in slOjd, the opening of a meat tin or sardine box would not mean lOckjaw If | to the use of ordinary tools some crafts like | bOokbinding were added, brain workers would grow up with a recreative hobby ready made. Even a course of alarming and button sewing might not come amiss t1 youths intended for professions, where, according tO the registrar generals re- turns, they will be condemned to hachler- | lOJd till 3D-IOndOn Saturday Review